Yvan Griboval - President

A self-taught entrepreneur, Yvan Griboval has been in turn a professional offshore racer, print and TV journalist, event organizer and business manager. He designed the OceanoScientific Programme in 2005-06, then the OSC System from 2008 to 2016. The latter enables the automatic collection of scientific data every six seconds, especially on small vessels, and their automatic transfer by satellite every hour to researchers. During the winter of 2016-2017, Yvan successfully led the first OceanoScientific Expedition as part of a single-handed round-the-world tour by sail. That meant 152 days of single-handed sailing including 60 days on an oceanographic expedition in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current around the three great capes, those of Good Hope, Leeuwin, and the Horn. He is now institutionalizing these oceanographic sailing expeditions in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - in summer as well as in the austral winter - and is also working to equip the ocean racing yachts that sail around the three great continental capes. Yvan is the initiator of the French and Monegasque OceanoScientific philanthropic association.  Yvan is Member of the Yacht Club de Monaco ; of the Société des Explorateurs Français ; of the Comité National Français des Recherches Arctiques et Antarctiques and of the Société Française de la Météorologie et du Climat.

Laurent Soler - General Secretary

Born on the shores of the Mediterranean in Algiers, Laurent Soler spent his childhood between Bordeaux and the Arcachon Basin, always in contact with the sea. After graduating, Laurent Soler joined the French army. He served with enthusiasm for thirty years. He was then taken on by Le Boat (Sun Sail Group), as director of three water sports centres involved in renting out pleasure craft, thus combining his professional activities and a passion for the sea. Laurent joined the service of Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco as aide-de-camp in 2012 and was then appointed in 2014 Chamberlain of the Sovereign Prince for five years. He currently holds the position of Organisation & Security Director within the Monaco Resources Group, based in the Principality. Father of two children and now grandfather of a little girl, Laurent is more than ever sensitive to the need to preserve the Ocean for future generations. A sportsman, he regularly sails, but is above all a keen scuba diver with the Monaco CESMM of which he is Vice-President.
 

Charlotte Bouery - Teasurer

The daughter of a Navy officer, Charlotte Bouery spent her youth on the French coast in the major naval ports of Cherbourg and Toulon. After graduating with a Master’s degree in Science and Management from the prestigious faculty of Paris-Dauphine, Charlotte then began a career in international finance as an equity trader with CDC IXIS. She became friends with Cécile d'Estais. After a break of a few years to devote herself to raising her three children, Charlotte Bouery moved to Monaco in 2005. She then began a career in real estate. Inspired by the enthusiasm of the team of the OceanoScientific Monaco association in favour of preserving the Ocean and raising awareness about its importance among children aged 8 to 12, it is only natural that Charlotte Bouery should now be involved in the governance and development of the association. 

Irina Maria Peterson

Growing up in communist Romania, Irina Maria Peterson discovered the beauty of the marine life thanks to Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s documentaries. Offering her the freedom to escape the dark realities of that time, Irina became an Ocean lover ever since. She fulfilled her dreams to dive and sail in the most incredible places on Earth and to live by the sea. A Monaco resident since over twenty years, Irina is actively engaged in the preservation of the environment and in particular in Ocean protection. Auto-proclaimed “imperfect activist”, Irina spent five weeks at the start of 2020 researching and revealing the plastic pollution in Galapagos and Easter Island, and navigating between the two destination as part of the eXXpedition crew. Her Ocean Amazon platform has among missions to raise awareness on the plastic pollution problem in our Ocean, as well as bringing forward practical solutions to fight this huge issue. An MBA graduate in Finance, Irina has completed studies in sustainability and environment, such as the edX Program “Our Planet - Our Ocean”, as well as the Stanford University Continuous Learning Center Program in Sustainability. Irina Maria Peterson is Membre Societaire of Yacht Club de Monaco, member of Monaco Impact, member of Femmes Leaders Mondiales Monaco and an ambassador for Passion Sea and eXXpedition.

Cécile d'Estais - General Delegate

The mother of triplets - identical twins Quentin & Malo and Léa - particularly sensitive to the marine environment, Cécile d'Estais spent 17 years in the international finance industry as a financial analyst specializing in the luxury and cosmetics sectors in London and Paris, with major institutions such as Paribas Capital Markets, NatWest Securities and CDC IXIS (Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations); then as Senior Banker at IXIS CIB in charge of designing and implementing financial solutions. In 2006, at the announcement of the upcoming birth of her triplets, Cécile abandoned the strict business suits of a consultant banker to accompany her husband, Yvan Griboval, in the design and development of the OceanoScientific Programme. Throughout the 2016-2017 OceanoScientific Expedition, Cécile firmly steered operations on land while ensuring both the connection between the scientists and the single-handed skipper of the OceanoScientific Explorerand assuming all the tasks of general communication and media, but also the relations with schools and partners. Cécile has been the General Delegate – and Swiss army knife! – of the association since 2013.